The Astronomer

There was once an Astronomer whose habit it was to go out at
night and observe the stars. One night, as he was walking about
outside the town gates, gazing up absorbed into the sky and not
looking where he was going, he fell into a dry well. As he lay
there groaning, some one passing by heard him, and, coming to the
edge of the well, looked down and, on learning what had happened,
said, "If you really mean to say that you were looking so hard at
the sky that you didn't even see where your feet were carrying you
along the ground, it appears to me that you deserve all you've
got."